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So You Wannabe Animal Collective? A Playlist!

Whether or not it was a deliberate move, you could argue that there was a noticeable shift among certain bands to foster a sound considered “more Animal Collective-y” after Merriweather Post Pavilion came into the world three-and-an-half years ago. Watery synths, polyrhythms, tribal beats, chants, choral shouts, gurgling noises… pieced together, it’s the sort of thing you know when you hear it. Rock music has long rested on the merits of recycling and reworking, and Animal Collective certainly aren’t the first to make music from their wide-cast pool of influences either. But they are the first to put them together in such a way that made songs sound like 3-D excursions into Jurassic Park. Except when they sounded like the soundtrack to religious epiphanies. This was all really good, it turns out. Lots of bands followed suit. On the brink of Centipede Hz‘s release, we take a look at the best of AnCo’s derivatives over the last few years.